Onodera Ritsu quits his job and transfers to the publishing company Marukawa Shoten. Sadly, he gets assigned to the editing department that handles shoujo manga; and Ritsu, who vowed to never fall in love again, working on love stories is impossible. Panic ensues when he realises that the arrogant and tyrannical head editor turns out to be his former first love!

Includes Onodera's co-worker Kisa Shouta's storyline of his encounter with handsome student and book store clerk Yukina Kou.

This is a story about first love never dies... pretty cliche. Nakamura-sensei's works tends to be repetitive but with the right elements in the chapters that will be released in the future, this can be a nice manga.

Nostalgia - The most interesting of the three since it's the main story. BUT I HATE RITSU'S NEVER-ENDING TSUNDERE-NESS. If you like someone, why do you keep on denying it?! You have sex with the guy but you can't say those three words? Takano's... well, Takano. He doesn't have a particular trait that make him stand out among the other semes of SIH and JR. It's redeeming factor is the huge hurdle of the story that's Onodera's the heir of their family business, so I there'll be a lot of angst in the future (I love angst).

Domestica - The most hated story of the bunch. I actually like Hatori when I still don't know that he's some crazy maniac that when his switch has been flipped, he'll rape the person he's been in love for a long time. And Chiaki's cute at first but he's airheaded-ness is annoying. Although if you look past through the rape thing, I think Hatori's really sweet and his serious facade goes well with Chiaki's carefree personality.

Erotica - My favorite story, just because of one reason, and one reason only. YUKINA'S SO DAMN HOT I CAN'T EVEN... yeah. Really repetitive. Kisa's gonna be insecure about their relationship blah blah blah and when the confusion has been cleared-up, they'll end up having an intense make-up sex. Then the next chapter will be the same again. But there's been a little improvement with their relationship since Kisa's been able to express his feelings, even just a little bit.

The story is good, the character in a normal state are interesting, but when it comes to "love" everything is the same, cliche after cliche. They are funny parts, and there is the story, i forgot their name, this guy who has a daughter and the other guy, that's a new story line. I hate Ritsu, but i understand what he is thinking, because maybe i will think the same in those situations, and Takano has a psycological problem, maybe a trauma for all the suffer, who know D:.Kisa and Yukina is a good story but is the same as junjou egoist xDD In genera the story goes to the same point, sometimes is funny and original but then is tha same.I love sensei work, so if you hadnt read junjou i recommended xD if you like sensei, read it, but if you want a original story, this it isnt for you.well yaoi manga lack of originality :/

Though I really think Ritsu is a bit too stubborn, it just adds on the funny part of the story I guess. This is the first yaoi anime/manga that I have attempted and ever since then, I am so hooked to it!! One reason why I've become kinda a yaoi fan I guess =p DEFINITELY RECOMMEND THIS!!

Sigh. The main couple is no different from Junjou Romantica, which I already dropped. Seme is an over-achiever and uke is in love with seme, just in denial. "I dont love him, why did I do this, why did I do that? Blah blah blah" It makes me wonder, was he just born yesterday and know nothing of love. But at least its fun and the characters have personality and the second chance concept is not bad (8/10)

The childhood couple is cute but boring. I barely interested enough to read all the chapter (7/10)

Kisa couple was plain bad. This couple makes me realizes why people like it even though they're not into yaoi. It was plain shoujo. Boring heroine got a prince in love with her, for the most superficial reason. The prince being to nice to her, while she labelled herself as worthless and got all emo about that. Do I care about a dude who dont know his own worth, or at least try to get better? No. He spent most of his time worrying but did NOTHING for their relationship, not even trying, just blaming on the other party. Most of the things about his story doesnt make sense. He have no time for his lover now, but he had time to be a regular customer of love hotels and checking out guys. Instead of calling and talking to his lover, he was...wondering about deleting his contacts. And instead of confronting about the imagined "cheating incident", he gets another guy to his room. Well, I guess it didnt take a genius to see why this guy doesnt have any decent relationship. Congratulations for being my No.1 hated character in the series (1/10)

Yokozawa is a likable character. I want to read more of his story to give a proper rating.

All the couple has serious issues with communication, got we wonder how the heck did they get that line of job?Overall, it is better than Junjou Romantica and entertaining (some couples) but nothing special really.

Seriously saying, I really dislike Onodera. In fact, I think he's exactly just like Misaki from Junjou. No, wait, I think Misaki is even BETTER than him. For some reason, the author really enjoy drawing main uke characters with the "in denial attitude". It's not fascinating and it's making the story and the characters boring. Yes, I said BORING. I really do love the other side character's stories and at least, although the uke are sometimes having doubts or wavering feelings, but at least, they sort their problems after that and get a better ending. But Onodera's case is just...freaking annoying. It's obvious to us that he loves Takano. And because of his half-a$$ feelings and unable to clear out the misunderstandings is just making him look even worse. I do like Takano and his thinking is very much straightforward and matured.

So the only huge problem is definitely Onodera. No matter how he was "hurt" last time, but acting like a brat when he's all grown up is just unsightly. When I was watching the anime, I have the urge to punch him through my computer screen. Really.

Despite the fact that I tried reading Junjou Romantica before and ended up dropping it, I decided to give this a go since these mangas are so popular.

My initial impression was "better than Junjou" when it comes to the story. The art in the beginning of the series is just as god-awful. It's messy, but not because it's cluttered with too much detail or anything, in fact, it's too simplistic. It looks sketchy and not fine tuned at all, at times I felt like I was reading mere storyboards. Gives me a head ache to try and decipher what's going on. The characters are ugly, which kinda hurts the hotness of the yaoi-aspect of the story. To be brutally honest, it's probably the ugliest style out of any manga I've ever bothered to read.

However, the art â€“ thank God â€“ does get better and cleaner in later volumes, and though the design of the character's faces stays the same, the body proportions also become a lot more realistic as the story advances. Some panels are even stylistically quite artsy! I especially liked the rain scene where Ritsu and Takano are standing in the shelter...

When it comes to the story, there is something about it that's got potential. That, I think, is the humour more than anything else. The whole setting for the story is quite light and fun, not all that deep really, but not every story has to be. The only problem is that the plot develops slowly and the cute plot devices, like the count down to when Ritsu will fall in love, become repetitive. The manga industry setting is quite intriguing at least.

As for the characters, Ritsu and Takano aren't very likeable at first and there isn't anything very original about them. Reluctant uke in denial being forced by a forceful near rapist tsundere seme. Seen it, and seen it done much better too, even as these aren't my favorite yaoi tropes... Now, Ritsu had some good qualities, he doesn't come across as completely helpless, he's hardworking and quite strong-willed. Takano improves on closer acquaintance and I felt for him since he did seem rather hurt by Ritsu's rejection and messy love life. Despite being the poster boy of the overbearing tsundere seme, he turned out to be surprisingly caring. The insight we get into his back story and the deep feelings he has for Ritsu was for me the biggest draw of this story.

Kisa and Yukina are fine too, I enjoyed the story and liked the characters. Especially the older uke/eager young seme aspect was nice. I don't really remember the other couples...

There are things I like about this story but there are some serious consent and victim blaming issues even in the later volumes. Rape≠Love!

To be honest I had my doubts at first, I'm not a big fan of Nakamura-sensei's art (I tried reading Junjou Romantica a few times but the art always put me off - though to be honest the characters did too) but Sekaiichi Hatsukoi's plot seemed fairly interesting so I gave it go. And I have to say her art has improved a lot since her older works, it's a lot cleaner and the characters' limbs seem to be more proportional now.

Yes, overall it is quite cliche; most of the ukes have the typical small stature & huge eyes (there's only 1 exception), the semes are possesive & pushy, and there are loads of silly misunderstandings (I'm mainly talking about the incident between Onodera & Takano in their student days - to be honest I think it should've been something a bit more convincing to warrant Onodera's reaction).

Although, that's all part of the reason why I adore this manga so much. I don't see anything wrong with stereotypical BL if it's entertaining, and my gosh this really is.

There's loads of comedy throughout, although it doesn't overshadow the romance at all. There are also some moments that can wrench your heart (the main one consists of Takano & Yokozawa having a certain discussion - I can almost guarantee that if you didn't like Yokozawa from the start, after that scene, you'll absolutely love the poor guy). Then to top it all of, there's also a lot of sex scenes (literally almost every chapter!).

I just adore stories that have multiple relationships (in fact the Warui Koto Shitai series is my second favourite manga of all time -- so if you haven't read that yet, then seriously go check it out: http://www.mangaupdates.com/series.html?id=11462 Ahh, Towa & Mikado are just so scrumptious! And there's the hot Shinonome too...) Anyway, I really like being able to read about different couples that are all in the same universe, and I love seeing how events in their relationships overlap. So I think that's one of the major reasons why I enjoy this manga so much. Plus I like almost all the characters, so obviously that helps. The only ones I don't particularly care for are Yoshino & Hatori. -- Not just because of the non-con in the associated novel, but I just find them boring. Hatori is quite dull & Yoshino is far too stupid to even be considered cute. Though I suppose if you like Misaki from JR then you may like him too. Apart from them, the other 3 couples are really adorable ^__^

Spoiler (mouse over to view)

I am including Yokozawa & Kirishima too, even though they don't make many appearances in the manga so far, I still think they have a wonderful relationship.

I know some people dislike tsundere characters but I think they're cute, so I especially love Onodera. Yeah he can be frustrating at times since he's so hesitant, but to be fair I don't think it's that easy for someone to dive head-first into a homosexual relationship, especially if it's with your boss/first-love-who-accidentally-broke-your-heart!

I also really like the setting of this too, as it isn't just an office-based romance or high-school themed story. In fact, I think the manga editing aspect of this makes it really interesting. Unlike other manga with a similar setup, this actually focuses a lot on the editing & publishing industries, which makes this pretty special as it goes into so much detail. Plus what I really like is how Nakamura-sensei can make jokes about the industry and when she describes a process (for instance, submitting the storyboard) there are often little snippets along the lines of, "this is how mangaka are meant to behave, but bad mangaka do this instead", and she sort of jokes around like that. (I couldn't be bothered to find an actual quote, so I'm not sure if my example made any sense, but if you read it then you'll probably understand what I'm getting at).

Even though this review is meant to be of the manga itself, I just want to recommend the anime to anyone who hasn't seen it yet, as the seiyuu are all amazing! I'm always a bit skeptical about watching anime after reading the manga, as I tend to imagine what the characters sound like while I'm reading, then when I get around to watching the anime adaptation I usually end up disappointed. But with this, the seiyuu all fit their roles perfectly, and really become the characters. Plus they just have such lovely voices ♥

So while Sekaiichi Hatsukoi doesn't have the most gripping of plots, I still think it's wonderfully entertaining and always leaves me with a warm fuzzy feeling and goofy grin. So if you're like me and just want something with minimum drama (no ridiculously complicated love-dodecahedrons thankfully!!) and lots of smut, then give this a go ^__^

(I also strongly recommend that you read the Yokozawa Takafumi no Baai novels as well -- they are brilliant! Plus the movie adaptation of YTNB has been announced, so that is definitely not to be missed!♥)